Effect of an RNA-rich Extract on Acquisition of a One-way Avoidance Response in Rats

Abstract

Two recent approaches to the biochemistry of memory have involved, respectively, the measurement of molecular changes after training, and attempts, using brain extracts, to transfer trained behavioural tendencies between animals. Zemp et al.¹ have reported differences between experimental and yoked-control mice in the synthesis of both nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA after a training session in which they learned to jump onto a platform to avoid foot shock; subsequent work² suggested that the change in RNA synthesis during learning is a function of the learning experience and not of stimulation, sensitization or other non-specific factors. The “memory transfer” effect was discovered in our laboratory and has now been replicated successfully in at least twenty others^3–5. We had now attempted to interrelate these two approaches by studying the behavioural significance of substances synthesized after acquisition of the same response used by Zemp et al., as measured by their effects when injected into a second animal.